Rhymney Valley Ridgeway
Rhymney Valley Ridgeway
It was the end of February and the day of St Mary’s Church quiz so we knew the walk would be fairly straightforward as the question master needed to get back in good time! After a month of double the normal rainfall, the previous day had been very wet – it was the Friday that the A48 was closed in two places between Bonvilston and Cowbridge. Hail stones hammered down at 8a.m. and strong winds were forecast. This almost put us off but by 9.30a.m. the weather had improved and we set off, parking at Caerphilly Garden Centre.
Beginning the walk uphill we decided to stay on the road rather than wade along the first footpath. The deep gutters at the side of the road were torrents about a foot deep and overflowing into the road so that at times we were paddling in an inch or so of water.
We felt sorry for a group of black sheep standing on an island of grass in the midst of a morass of mud. At a chapel, a sign on the gates to the graveyard warned: ‘People entering this graveyard do so at their own risk’. In one field a herd of horses stayed close to a wall taking shelter from the wind rather than coming after us which is our normal experience.
On the ridge the air was filled with the wonderful song of larks taking wing as we passed. As we reached the trig point, our highest point for the day, we could see the sun shining on the Bristol Channel and extensive views in all directions. My attempts to take pictures of the group here resulted in heads chopped off and fuzziness as I struggled against the wind. Descending from the top of the ridge we were suddenly exposed to an icy wind slicing up the valley below but once we got to the road there was some shelter.
At noon we came to Eglwysilan Church with a Victorian post box in its wall. We took refuge from a hailstorm and had a look around. What a lovely surprise to find there was a table with 6 chairs and even a tablecloth. Since we were six we decided on an early lunch, a welcome sanctuary but cold.
Originally Roman Catholic, St Ilan’s Church became Anglican following the Reformation. The dedication of the church is ambiguous. Ilan may have been a Celtic saint of whom no other trace survives. The Cistercian Way website suggests that Ilan may have been a pre- Norman bishop of Llandaf and says that the 12th century book of Llandaf denotes the church at Eglwysilan as the resting place for the relics of Ilan. The churchyard contains the grade II listed tomb of the bridge builder William Edwards (he built the first stone bridge in Pontypridd) and many of the victims of the Senghenydd Colliery Disaster of 1913. Evan James who wrote the lyrics of the Welsh National Anthem was baptised here.
All was going well and we got down to the Taff trail, which is tarmac here, and were striding along at 3 miles an hour when we arrived at about 200 yards of water. We had gone through a few shorter stretches – using walking poles to gauge the depth as we progressed- but this was a challenge. Two of the men took some exploratory steps and turned back when the water reached calf height. We had several options: climb the steep side on our left traversing a few gullies – not favoured by most of us, turn around and walk back about a mile to find an alternative route (adding at least 2miles to the walk) or explore the embankment on the right. On inspection the narrow ledge of the embankment was a few feet wide and covered in brambles, rotting wood etc. One person’s walking pole broke in half as he attempted to beat back the brambles but… lucky for us we got past the flood just before reaching a fallen tree which would have been very difficult to pass. Now we wondered whether any further floods faced us and fortunately after about 5 minutes we met a man who had just walked up the Taff trail, so we knew we could carry on and were able to advise him to take an alternative route. Although some stretches had lying water none of them was more than an inch or two, so we returned to the cars in good time
It had been surprisingly firm underfoot and although it was windy, nothing like the 40mph forecast. We had a few moments of sunshine and a few hail showers (that hurt with the wind behind it) but there was little rain. Tea at the garden centre was thoroughly enjoyed. Walk 8.6miles and 1300ft climb. Map 166.